Should you upload your CV to an online jobs board?

Posted August 9, 2019

If you’re searching for a job online, you’ve probably seen the prompts from jobs websites suggesting that you upload your CV to their database, so that employers will be able to find you. This might sound like a sensible thing to do, particularly as you want to maximise your chances of finding a good job, but will your details be secure, and are there other potential risks to putting your CV online?

What happens to my CV once it’s online?

Once you upload a CV, anyone who has registered as an employer on that site (i.e. paid a fee), will have access to your contact details – are you comfortable with that? If so, check the different privacy settings on each job board and take care to select the options that are most appropriate for you.

Remember you should never include your date of birth or national insurance number on a CV and you can list the area you live in rather than your full address.

Some recruiters have targets for signing up graduates and they ‘harvest’ CVs from websites for contact details; you may receive an email about a graduate job that sounds great but turns out not to exist. If you do post your CV on a jobs board, make sure you thoroughly check opportunities that come from recruiters to make sure they are legitimate.

What else can you do to increase your chances of being shortlisted for a job interview?

We recommend that you tailor your CV for every job vacancy. You are more likely to be shortlisted for interview if you have adjusted your CV to highlight relevant transferable skills or experience, so having one CV online is probably not going to be the best possible demonstration of your skills. It’s much better to target specific roles and have a fresh, up-to-date CV that reflects the requirements of each job.

Also, did you know that many recruiters use Automated Tracking Systems (ATS) to scan potential applicant’s CVs? This software scans your CV for keywords and phrases related to the job, which again means you should tailor your CV to make sure you are passing this first phase of selection. ATS systems also struggle to read complicated formats such as tables, different columns and graphics so try to keep your formatting simple (see some sample CVS here).

How else can I apply for jobs and keep my details secure?

We would recommend that you sign up with a specialist recruitment agency. Recruitment agencies have to be GDPR compliant which means they need your permission to share your contact details with a third party organisation.